My eyes shot up towards the door and locked onto the tall figure standing in front of it. It was a young man, probably just slightly older than me. His long brown hair hung in messy curls, and even though it was flopping over his face slightly, I could see a pair of piercing green eyes. His unorganized features contrasted with his neat, black suit with a crisp white t-shirt. His legs seemed to go on forever, and when I looked at his shoes I noticed that he was wearing man high-heels.
"What are you doing?" He questioned suspiciously. His voice was deep and raspy, and I couldn't help but notice the British accent laced in; making the words just slip off his tongue. I didn't answer, so he took long strides over to the desk and looked at what I had been doing. I then realized what was about to happen, and, with my unbelievable lack of common-sense, my immediate reaction was to fling my body over the paperwork to hide it. "No. Please, can you just-" I lose my train of thought when he grabs my small forearm surprisingly gently for how big his hands were.
"Ingrid, please just let me see." His voice was soft and conniving, and I mentally swore at myself for listening to the man I had never seen before. Wait-I had never seen him before, so how did he know my name? "How-how do you know who I am?" My voice was shaky as I watched him look through my hard work. He looked up at me, a slight scowl was set in between his eyebrows. "C'mon Ingrid, your father is the most successful man in the North America, everyone knows who you are." My eyes go wide and I gasp softly. "Everyone?" He nodded.
"You're-not going to say anything are you?" I peer at him through my long eyelashes. He sighs and drops the massive pile of paper, all done by me, and stares right into my eyes. "I don't know what to do." My stomach fluttered, there's a chance that I could get out of this. "Please-" I paused, not knowing his name. He caught on rather quickly and answered. "Harry Styles." I nodded and smiled lightly. "Please Harry. My father's going through a-hard time right now. I'm just trying to help him get back on his feet. I know what I'm doing is wrong, but haven't you ever done something stupid for someone you care about?" He seems thoughtful for a second, and when he doesn't answer, I take it as a good sign.
"Please, can you keep this a secret?" His eyes pierce intensely into my own, and I'd be lying if I denied the intimidation. "Please." I almost whispered. His sharp eyes softened, and I could tell I was winning. "Fine. On one condition." He leaned on the desk, his beautiful face inches from my own. "Put a good word in for me to you father, yeah?" I crack a relieved smile and nod. "Of course." He smirks and stands back up to his regular height. "So that's what you're here for?" I asked, realizing that he never told me the reason why he was there. "I'm looking for a job in publishing, and decided to come to the best." He smiled down at me. "Well, what time were you supposed to meet my father?" I scramble for his agenda, but nothing was written in it. "4:30." I glanced at the clock and sighed. It was 5:00.
"Well, I didn't know you were coming. He's in a major meeting right now, and it seems to be going on late. Take a seat and wait." I gestured to the leather chairs and he obliged, taking off his suit jacket. "Did you just-walk into his office without knocking?" I questioned as politely as I could. I had to stay on this man's good side. "No. Well-yes. The lady at the front desk told me that he was in a meeting and to go right in and wait." I sighed. "She really needs to get fired." I accidentally say aloud and he chuckled. "Oops. I didn't mean to say that out-I mean I didn't mean that-" I decided to stop my awkward rambling and just sat there, smiling sheepishly.
About 15 minutes later, my father walks through the door, holding a new bottle of some sort of alcohol. I hurriedly jumped out of my seat. "Dad! This is Harry Styles. He had a job interview at 4:30 today." I walk over to where he was standing and take the paper bag from his hands. I can tell that he wasn't drunk yet, and the bottle felt like only a few swigs had been taken from it. He looks at the curly-headed man confused, then it seemed to hit him. "Of course. I'm so sorry, my meeting ran late." He rushed over to Mr. Styles and shook his hand. "Well, I'm going to leave you two to it. Best of luck, Harry." I smiled softly and walked out of the office.
Once I was gone, I stood there for a few minutes, controlling my breathing. That could have ended VERY badly. Not only would both my father and I go to prison, but he would lose his reputation and every ounce of respect from everyone. Now all I could do was pray that the stranger would keep this secret.
